The Transforming Power Of The Holy Spirit

All right, we’re going to go to Romans 8. We’ve been talking about the person of the Holy Spirit, and we’re going to continue to talk about that today. The title of the message today is “The Transforming Power of the Holy Spirit.” And I want us to look in Romans chapter 8 — this is some of my favorite Scripture — starting at verse 11. Are we all there? Okay. Starting at verse 11, I’ll be reading out of the New King James Version. There’s lots of good versions, so whatever you have — I’ve always heard it said, and I would fully agree, the best translation is the one you read. So get in your word.

Life to your mortal bodies

All right, Romans chapter 8, starting at verse 11. It says this: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead” — talking about the Holy Spirit — “will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

I believe that this is both a current promise and a future promise. How many of you are thankful that Jesus heals? Amen. This is a current promise and a future promise. It is a current promise for physical healing, for vitality, for strength. Somebody say amen. I’m getting older, and I’m realizing more and more I need to be strengthened by Him. Amen. But it’s also a future promise that speaks to the resurrection of our bodies, that there is going to be this ultimate manifestation of glory in us, where we will receive a new body. Everybody say, “New body.” Thank You, Lord, we get a new body. And this is the promise of the Lord redeeming the body.

Okay, look at verse 12. It says, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh” — in other words, we don’t owe the flesh anything — “to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit” — say, “By the Spirit” — “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

In other words, lordship is a marker of our sonship. To make Him the Lord of our life, and to say, “Lord, You are the one I look to. You are my master. You are the one who decides for me” — it is a marker of sonship and identity. How many of you know we can’t lead Him and call ourselves a son? We don’t really have a say in the matter.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes the Lord will speak something, and because I don’t necessarily like it, or I don’t really want to go that route in life, I just kind of avoid it. Anybody been there? How many of you know God does not forget? He’s more patient than you are. And so we need to have this submission, this yielding to the Lord, this humble obedience. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God” — we should be led by the Spirit of God, amen — “these are sons of God.”

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” That means that once you are born again, you recognize it. There is something in you that recognizes things are different. Things have changed. I might still have some old habits. I might still be struggling with some of the things that I say. But on the inside there is a witness between your spirit and His Spirit that you have new life.

Verse 17 says, “And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” All right, now for the sake of time we can jump down to 28 — no, 26 — no, no, let’s just keep going. This is too good.

Creation groans for redemption

Verse 18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” This is speaking of that resurrection that we were just talking about. Okay. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” In other words, creation itself is in anticipation of us being resurrected and standing on this earth with resurrected bodies, from the one who has resurrected Himself.

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” We think we can fix the earth, but how many of you know we need Jesus? “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”

Now, we read that and we say, “Well, I thought I’ve already been adopted into the family of God.” You have been. But this is talking about the fullness of our salvation, when our bodies are resurrected. In other words, there is a craving that our mortality will put on immortality.

Verse 24 says, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” How many of you know it is very natural for the bride, for the church, to long and wait in eager anticipation for the bridegroom, that is Jesus? There should be a longing in us for Him to come back. I remember when I was young, I was always like, “Yeah, but I want to live my life, right? I want to experience things.” And yes, the Lord has created us. He has a plan for us. He has a purpose — we’re going to talk about it in a moment. But there is something so precious and something so magnificent about who He is that on the inside we long for His return. How many of you know it is natural to long for Jesus?

Verse 26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” And so we know this includes spiritual language, but it’s not limited to spiritual language. Verse 27: “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Verse 28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” This is a Scripture that is quoted often, but I want us to notice this morning what the context of this Scripture is — that He works all things together for good for those who love Him. Paul is talking about praying in the Spirit. He’s talking about being one with the Spirit, and how when we are praying, we are going to need at times to trust that no matter what we face, no matter what we see, no matter what we think we know, we must realize God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. How many of you know that is hope? Amen. That is where we put our faith. We don’t put our faith in what we know. We don’t put our faith in what we can do. We put our faith in Jesus.

Conformed to the image of His Son

Verse 29 says this — and this is what I want to get to. You’re like, why do we read so much Bible? It’s okay to read the Bible. Did you know that? It’s okay. Verse 29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” I want you to think about that for a moment. Those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Let me tell you, if you are wondering what God’s will for your life is, we just read it. God’s will, the Holy Spirit’s ultimate agenda for your life, is for you to become more like Jesus. Now, you might hear that and you’re like, well, those are pretty high standards. Yeah. But His goal, His will, and His agenda is, in all things and in everything, to work things in such a way that you would become more and more like Him.

There’s two ways that you can be led in that process. You can be stubborn. You can be proud. You can be arrogant. You can resist Him, and it makes things really difficult. Or we can die to ourselves, and we can say, “Lord, whatever it is, I’m going to do it Your way.” And when we yield to that process that the Holy Spirit is working in us, He makes us more like Him. Everybody say this: “The Holy Spirit — His goal is to conform me into the image of Jesus.” And that is awesome. You can repeat that.

A heart of flesh

Listen to Ezekiel 36:26. This is when the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet, and He says this: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.”

And so here Ezekiel is speaking prophetically through the Holy Spirit: the day will come where God will remove the stony heart. Now, I don’t know about you, but there are times where I come in with a heart that is hard and callous towards the Lord. Anybody else? Where I spend so much time out in the world, I spend so much time consumed with my anxious thoughts, with my fears, with my concerns. Anybody have those? Come on, are we going to be honest here today? Okay. And I spend so much time looking at those things that I have taken my eyes off the one, Jesus, whose ultimate agenda is to take out that heart of stone.

When we fix our eyes on the wrong things, our heart gets hard. Sometimes we walk into this church, and Jesus can be in the room, and we miss Him, because we’re thinking about everything else, right? Because our heart’s just not there. And we can say things like, “Oh, well, the pastor just didn’t preach a good enough word.” Okay, well, that’s probably true. We can say things like, “Well, I just wasn’t feeling it.” But how many of you know it must be chosen?

He says, “I will take out the stony heart.” And there will be a day, when we receive the gospel by faith, that God will remove the heart of stone, and He will give us a heart of flesh. In other words, a heart that is tender, pliable, humble, moldable, teachable. Okay? All of this will happen by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit alone. And then Ezekiel says how obedience will be birthed in this new heart. Amen. Okay, are you guys with me? Is this okay?

Fellowship with everything He is

Let me ask you guys a question. Did Jesus come to abolish the law or to fulfill the law? Fulfill it. Wow, okay, you are here. Good job. Jesus came to fulfill the law. That means that since Jesus fulfilled all the commandments of God — He fully satisfied the law — I too can begin to fulfill the commandments of God when I fellowship with Jesus, because He has fulfilled them. I cannot fulfill the commandments of God without the Lord.

And so if you were to take a step back and look at your week, you would probably recognize that the times you were sinning the least were in times of worship and adoration to the Lord. Sounds obvious, but there is something that happens. Because when we fellowship with Jesus — and this is so key, and I need you guys to get this — when we fellowship with Jesus, without even knowing it, we are fellowshipping with everything that He is. Did you get that? I don’t know if you did. When we fellowship with Jesus, we are fellowshipping with everything He is. We are fellowshipping with His righteousness. We are fellowshipping with His peace. We are fellowshipping with the joy that He brings. Does anybody need a little bit more joy? Does anybody need a little more peace? Fix your eyes on Jesus. Okay? When we fellowship with Him, we are fellowshipping with everything that He is.

In fact, being free of bondage — those sins that you just can’t get rid of, right? Maybe you’re struggling with just being angry, or maybe there’s unforgiveness. Whatever it is that you are struggling with, the way that we actually become free from bondage is when we forget our bondage, because we are so fixated on Jesus Himself. The best way to overcome sin is to stop looking at your sin and to start looking to Jesus. Are we good?

So whether it’s anger, perversion, lust, fear, anxiety, whatever it is — rather than attempting to always wage war to become better (I don’t do very good that way), rather than waging war against that, maybe we just need to spend a little bit more time on Jesus and the victory that He’s already won. You see, we cannot fix our sin issue. Only He can do that. Amen. We don’t defeat sin. We don’t remove sin. Jesus does that. So we must look to Him.

We talked about this and referenced this during our time of worship this morning, but how many of you remember the story of Mary and Martha? And what did Jesus say? Jesus said only one thing. Everybody hold up one, right? This is like that song, “This Little Light of Mine.” Okay, only one thing. I bet you the young people don’t even know what I’m talking about right now. I bet you they’re like, “What?” We’ve got to bring that back. We’ll circle it back.

Okay, but Jesus said this. He said, “Only one thing is needed. Only one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen” — everybody say, “Chosen” — “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” If only one thing matters, why do we spend so much time on other things? If only one thing matters, why do we spend so much of our care and attention on other things? And He said Mary has chosen — everybody say, “Chosen” — the better part. Mary has chosen. Meaning what? It must be chosen.

Listen, in His goodness, the love of Jesus will come upon you. And that is why it’s so critical for us to respond to the Lord in a moment. Somebody say amen. I think sometimes we let moments pass us by because we don’t want to look foolish. We don’t want to look dumb. We don’t want to put ourselves out there. But it’s important to respond to the Lord when He calls, because there might not be another call, or our hearts might not be ready to hear that call. Okay? That’s why Scripture says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.” Somebody say amen.

So we need to respond in the moment, but we must choose it. The love of God, the peace of God — none of those things just fall into your lap. How could they? Have you guys been out there? Have you been watching the news? Have you seen the things? How can there be peace in this world? How can there be peace in your life? You must choose it, by choosing Him. Amen. This is a good word: you must choose Him, and choose not to do other things. You guys can write that down. You must choose Him and choose not to do other things. Because first love, true love for Jesus, doesn’t just fall in your lap. You cannot bring another lover, another mistress, into the room with Jesus. We must choose the better part.

The devil can shine beautiful things before your heart. Beautiful things — success, fame, money. Beautiful. “Oh, that sounds nice. I could use a little bit more of that.” But it is so temporal. What is a man willing to forfeit, and yet forfeit his own soul? Amen.

Gold, silver, and precious stones

And so there will be a day — whether you realize it or not, whether you believe it or not — there will be a day where we all stand before Jesus, and we come to Him at His throne. And think about this: everything that we do will be judged. Everything that we thought was good will be judged, right? And Scripture says anything that is not silver, gold, or precious jewels will be consumed. Everything.

But it’s not so much about the results. How many of you know we celebrate a lot of things that God doesn’t really celebrate, right? There’s success, drivenness — the world celebrates those things. But if drivenness and ambition are tethered to the wrong thing, it’s actually demonic to the Lord. Are you guys with me? Yeah. And so we have to be aware that when we are standing before Jesus, it’s not the results. Listen, there probably will be pastors, leaders of movements, people with thousands upon thousands, millions of followers on Instagram — but because it wasn’t from Him or unto Him or because of Him, all of it will burn.

And I don’t know about you, but my goal is that when I’m in heaven and I’m standing before the Lord — and everybody else, by the way; that’s a humbling moment — I don’t want to have the biggest bonfire in heaven. You know what I mean? And I will tell you this. I’m going to give you a little tip. The jewels, the silver, the gold — it doesn’t happen when you’re standing on a platform like this. It almost always happens when you’re just moved with compassion and love for somebody else, where you stop in your day and you ask, “How can I pray for you?” Where you put aside your to-do list and you come before the Lord and you just spend time at His feet. Those are the jewels.

But so oftentimes we confuse Christian things — you see this, everybody’s seen this — sometimes we confuse Christian things that aren’t even Christian to God. It was just under a Christian banner. And so it’s okay for us to look on the inside and self-reflect. Why did I do what I did? Was it for the approval of others? Was it for recognition? Was it for position? Was it for the benefit of my own status? Listen — and you can write this down — if Christ isn’t fueling it, if it is not unto Him, if it is not birthed by Him, it will burn.

And I think sometimes we think like this: “Well, if I can just get into heaven, I’m good.” And that is a big step, by the way. That’s a big thing. Amen. But the rewards in heaven will matter to you. And I believe every one of us is going to look back and wish that we had used this time a little bit differently. Just saying. Every one of us, okay? Because none of us are perfect. But it will matter.

Think of this. Oh, man, I had a picture I was going to show you guys. Oh well. You guys remember the storms a couple nights ago, right? There was the crazy lightning and rainbows everywhere. Do you guys remember that? Yes. That was wild. Okay, so my daughter and I were in our backyard, and she was taking photos, and she kept capturing the lightning. I was like, how are you doing this with an iPhone? And so she’s taking these pictures, and there’s this beautiful double rainbow, and in the sky is lightning streaking everywhere. It was over and over. It wasn’t just flashes; it was this ongoing chain. It was crazy. And so she got these amazing pictures.

Listen, think of the atmosphere of heaven for just a moment. That pales in comparison to the throne room — that level of beauty, but also power. We will all stand before the throne, on a sea of glass, without imperfection, perfectly pure, perfectly clean. We will be in the throne room, where He is surrounded by rainbows and lightnings and thunderings, with angels that have eyes all around — I don’t even know what that means, right? And there will be tens upon tens of thousands of heavenly hosts watching and witnessing the work that you bring to the Lord in that moment. This is a big deal. And everything that is hay, straw, stubble will burn, and what will be left is the silver, gold, and precious jewels — the things that you did to the Lord, for the Lord, and because of the Lord.

If we don’t live with this in mind — listen, if we don’t live with that reality in mind, you will live your life building with hay, straw, and stubble, because that’s what makes sense in this world. That’s what is celebrated in this world: to build with the temporary, to gain influence. “Well, as long as I’m winning people for Jesus, it doesn’t matter.” Oh, no, it matters. Did you compromise to win people? Did you celebrate and allow things that maybe other people enjoyed, but it resisted the presence of the Lord? You guys with me? This is so important. We must know and live with this in mind.

And so when we’re talking about the transforming power of the Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit is not after the results that you can provide. The Holy Spirit is after your why. Why did you do that? Why is that important to you? Was it because of your own gain, or was it because I asked of you? Was it because you got something out of it, or it looked good, or it seemed right? Or was it something that I spoke? Was it something that I said? The Holy Spirit is after our why.

Starve the sin tree

And I want us to think about this just for a moment. I’m going to close here in just a moment. But Scripture says we are made up of body, soul, and spirit, right? Does everybody know that? There’s me, but there’s a body part of me. This is the part that you see. This is the part that has the really nice hair, right? That’s what you see. You see my body. But then there’s my soul. The soul is my mind, my will, my emotions. It’s typically what makes the decisions in my life. But then there’s a spirit part of me. That’s the spirit on the inside that has been reborn, that is eternal. And that part of me that has been reborn, if you are born again, is so connected to the Holy Spirit that you are literally one with the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that amazing?

And so we have a body that is slowly going to dust. We have the soul, which is our mind and our will. And we have a spirit that is one with the Holy Spirit. Are you guys hearing? The Holy Spirit and your spirit are united at a level beyond our comprehension. Scripture says this: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” In other words, you are one with Jesus already. You are one with Him already. And it is a waste for us to go through this life and not experience that oneness, to not be rooted and grounded in that oneness, which is love and fellowship with Jesus. Love and fellowship with Jesus, to the point where we become one. It is that level of connection and intimacy that the Lord is after.

Did you know that your intimacy and your heart and your passion for the Lord is actually a tool to reach the harvest? Your heart and passion for God will rub off on people. It is meant to be a sign and a witness. “Why do you have joy, and I can’t stop freaking out? Why do you have peace, and you’re worse off than me?” The Lord will use your born-again fire, your hunger for Him, to trigger a harvest in other people, when they too are now drawn to Jesus.

Now, the soul is the decision maker, the will. And there’s an old quote that I remember hearing that says, “If you really want to overcome sin, you must starve the sin tree by feeding the tree of life.” The way for your soul to be changed — the mind, the will, the way you do things, your decisions, your emotions — the way for transformation to take place there... because how many of you know that’s the part that is being worked on right now, right? That’s the part where you’re like, “Will God actually do it? Oh, I think I need to make this happen for myself. You know what? I’m just going to put God on the back burner.” Okay. It is our decision. The way that that is renewed is when we stop looking and we starve the sin tree and we feed the life tree.

So the soul can either look to the tree of our carnality — the tree of pride, the tree of promotion, the tree of adultery, the tree of lust, whatever you struggle with. You can keep looking at that tree. But the only way to get this tree of sin, this tree of carnality, out of your life is not to go to war with this tree. You just give it more attention when you look to that tree. How many of you know if I say something like “pink flying elephant,” you just saw a pink flying elephant in your imagination, didn’t you? Whatever you give attention to will grow. And the goal is to partner with the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus.

And so the way that we break the power of sin in our life is not just by trying harder. It’s not just by putting up good practices or disciplines — though those can help, and those can be from the Lord. No, the way that we overcome sin and become more like Jesus is we starve the sin tree and we look to the tree of life, by turning from that tree and connecting with the Holy Spirit who lives in me, who turns my affection to Jesus. Okay?

The reason you came to Jesus was because of the Holy Spirit. I’m amazed every week. People come in here and they say, “Well, it’s my first time,” or they’ll say, “Yeah, I just really need more of God in my life.” And they just walk into the room, and I’m like, it is a miracle that you are here. Because I know for a fact that there is more going on in your life than I can even comprehend. There is pain. There are wounds. There is history. There are all these things, and the odds were stacked against you. You have no right to be here. I have no right to be here. But how many of you know it’s the love of Jesus and the drawing of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Him? Amen. Isn’t that wonderful?

And so I turn away from the sin tree, and I give my worship and affection to Jesus, and my spirit becomes stronger than my flesh. My spirit is becoming more like Him. My spirit is being transformed by the Holy Spirit, because my gaze is moving from what was, from bad habits, from all those things. I’m not looking to those things anymore. I’m giving my attention to Jesus. And when we do that, our spirit becomes stronger than the flesh, to the point where, because you have set your heart and your gaze upon Jesus, you will look back and be like, “Oh, I don’t even struggle with that anymore.” Was that you, or was that the Holy Spirit at work in you, putting your eyes in the right place?

Stop looking at that past relationship. Stop looking at the old hurts. Stop looking at those things, and look to Jesus. Stop looking at the lack in your life. Stop looking at what you feel you need. The Lord knows what you need. Look to Jesus. Stop trying to change your friends. Stop trying to change your spouse. Look to Jesus. You guys with me?

When we look to the Lord, it will develop a fire and a passion in us, to the point where it will trigger a harvest. And because of your love for Jesus, people around you will love Jesus. I’m going to say it again: because of your love for Jesus, people around you will love Jesus. I don’t know if you guys believe that. I’m getting some nods. I’ll say it again: because of your love for Jesus, other people are going to love Jesus.

Look to Jesus

I’m going to close with this. We have one job. We really have one job: look to the Lord. “Yeah, but who’s going to win the nations?” Look to the Lord. “Yeah, but who’s going to fix our country?” Look to the Lord. “Yeah, but my family’s struggling, and I don’t know how I’m going to pay for rent.” Those are real needs. Look to Jesus right now. Because when you look to Him, you are looking to everything that He is. What do you have need of? Do you need healing in your body? Jesus is your healer. Do you have lack in your life? Jesus is your provider. Has your hunger for Him been cooled by the affection of the world? Look to Jesus. He’s the bread of life. Are we getting it? It’s so simple. But you must choose it.

My heart — if we can’t choose Him when we’re together, how are we going to choose Him when we just go out? You know what I mean? The easiest place for us to choose Him is where two or more are gathered, where we encourage one another, where there’s this call to look to Him, to be in His presence. And my heart is that as we come together, we would see Jesus. My heart is that we would be so inflamed with a passion by His Spirit, when looking to Him, that we would see Him so clearly, so beautifully, that when we walk out of the room, we carry it out into the world.

Fellowship with the Lord is much more than just singing and praying. It definitely includes that, but it is a oneness. It’s a union with the person of Jesus and the accomplishments of Jesus. The moment we begin to commune with the Lord, we begin to experience every single thing that He has paid for. Isn’t that good? Isn’t that good?

Can we stand together? Let’s just fix our eyes on the Lord right now. The way that I typically do that is I close my eyes, because I’ve got to remove the distraction. I close my eyes, and in my heart I begin to picture Him where Scripture says He is: at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us all. And I begin to look at Him, and I begin to say how wonderful He is, and how much I need Him, and how I’m tired of struggling and wrestling with my own self.

I believe there’s some people here who have been wrestling with themselves for far too long. They’ve been fighting the same battle over and over and over, and sometimes those battles become our comfort place. But Jesus is saying, “I want to be your comfort and your deliverer.” Would you look to Jesus? Would you look to Him now? When we commune with Jesus and we fellowship with Him, we begin to experience everything that He has paid for.

Can we just lift our hands to the Lord right now? I’m going to pray this over you. Father, thank You for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, we thank You that as we yield to You, You turn our eyes to the glory and the beauty of Jesus, and we give You all the glory. And so even now, in Jesus’ name, I pray that You would begin to release the power of the Holy Spirit to bring healing to bodies, to bring deliverance, in Jesus’ name, from pain, from sickness, from bondage. In Jesus’ name, deliver Your people and strengthen us. Help us to become more like You.

Just say this with me right now. Just say: Jesus, help me to become more like You. Help me to fellowship with You. Teach me to worship You. Lord, keep my heart pure before You. In Jesus’ name we said amen. Amen.

There’s more to that prayer than you probably even realize, but the Lord will work that out. He’ll get that. How many of you know giving your heart to Jesus is a good thing? Amen. It’s good. It’s good. Look to the Lord. Look to the Lord. Don’t look to that tree. Look to Jesus. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.